


i'll be with you still

by cress_ent



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Broken Engagement, Engagement, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Making Up, Moral Ambiguity, Post-Manberg-Pogtopia War on Dream Team SMP (Video Blogging RPF), Rings, THATS A TAG?? NICE, Villain Floris | Fundy, but he loves fundy and fundy loves him so its fine, except also only sorta, fundy can have nice things sometimes, idealogically i do not agree with dsmp!dream but they kinda made points with fundywastaken, sorta?, spoilers for the events of january 6th, that nice thing is dream, who arguably is not that nice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-17 23:01:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28607940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cress_ent/pseuds/cress_ent
Summary: “I mean, I did just blow up your home nation.”“You did, you did.” Fundy lets out a light laugh, bittersweet. “It was so—”“Horrible? Disgusting? Unforgivable?”A small smile spreads across Fundy’s face, an echo of the wonder that shone from him earlier, gazing down at the crater that used to be his home, his world.“Beautiful.”-or, in which fundy thinks that maybe it wouldn't be so bad, to let go of any semblance of sides and forget about l'manberg and choose people instead. to choose people that choosehim.
Relationships: Clay | Dream/Floris | Fundy
Comments: 12
Kudos: 394
Collections: Completed stories I've read





	i'll be with you still

**Author's Note:**

> // obligatory "this is about the characters they play in the dream smp lore and not the actual people" disclaimer
> 
> // [dream voice] According to AO3 Statistics, only a small percentage of my readers actually leave kudos and comments. So if you end up liking this fic, please consider leaving a kudos or comment - it's free, and you can always remove it later if you change your mind. Enjoy the fic.

Fundy’s always had a strange talent for being able to find Dream. 

(The man is a walking enigma, a mystery that even Fundy has yet to understand. Even those closest to him — or, those that  _ were _ closest to him — like Sapnap, George, Punz, wouldn’t know where he would be at any given moment, unless he told one of them beforehand. But Fundy — Fundy’s been able to find him. Still can, apparently. Even after everything.)

He sits by the ruins of the community house, carved porcelain mask off for once to reveal the freckles beneath, a somber expression on his face. Fundy approaches quietly, taking a seat next to him. Dream doesn’t acknowledge his arrival, but Fundy knows Dream’s aware of his presence. (Fundy knows — a lot about Dream. More than he should. More than he really wants to.)

“You blew it all up,” he says, staring intently towards Dream. Dream doesn’t meet his gaze. It’s raining.

“I did.”

“Lots of damage.”

“Yup.”

He hasn’t talked to Dream in so long, and yet they fall back into this familiar rhythm so easily. Old habits die hard. “I bet it felt good.”

Dream sighs, and finally turns to face him, and oh, Fundy missed gazing into those eyes. “Look, we both know you’re not here to just make small talk, so — what do you want, Fundy?”

“A guy can’t talk to his— to an acquaintance without having ulterior motives?” Fundy is all too aware of the familiar words that nearly escaped him.  _ His fiance. _ Dream isn’t — his fiance anymore, is he. 

“I mean, I  _ did _ just blow up your home nation.”

“You did, you did.” Fundy lets out a light laugh, bittersweet. “It was so—”

“Horrible? Disgusting? Unforgivable?”

A small smile spreads across Fundy’s face, an echo of the wonder that shone from him earlier, gazing down at the crater that used to be his home, his world. “ _ Beautiful _ .”

Dream is clearly shocked by that answer — and he’s so easy to read, without the mask that covers his features, too used to his literal mask to be able to manage himself and his expressions without it, and Fundy loves it, misses it so dearly, the evenings they’d spend where he’d memorize Dream’s features, map out every curve of his cheek and lips and dotted freckle across the bridge of his nose. Misses the vulnerability that came with Dream shedding his iconic mask, the inherent trust that comes with being able to see him so clearly, so openly. His chest aches gently, at all that he had and all that he’s lost. “Beautiful?”

“I’ve done a lot of thinking, Dream. And the conclusion — the realization I came to, after losing sleep over this — was that it never mattered!” It’s so freeing. To know all this now. To know he doesn’t have to care. To throw his arms out and let a cocky grin start to form on his lips and laugh at all the stupid things he’s done and all the destruction that’s come because of it. “None of this — L’Manberg, Dream SMP, the wars and the fighting and the endless battles — none of it ever  _ fucking _ mattered.” 

Dream looks like he wants to say something, but Fundy pushes on. 

“And, well — Ranboo was right. We need to choose people, not sides. I’ve learned that lesson the hard way.” Fundy dips his hand into the water of the lake the community house was built on — it’s cold, not nearly as clear as it used to be, the corals broken and discoloured and the fish gone. The grey sky — whether it be clouds or ash that fills it — reflects in the surface of the lake. “But the others — they haven’t realized yet! Haven’t seen what’s  _ right _ in front of them.”

“Where are you going with all this?”

Fundy can’t help it, he grins to himself, lips pulling back to reveal sharp canines. (“ _ A predator’s smile — it’s beautiful, Fundy. You’re beautiful.”) _ “I destroyed their supplies, Dream.”

“Wh— you did  _ what _ ?”

He laughs again, and this time there’s nothing bitter and everything sweet, a high, full sound that carries over across the lake. “I destroyed the supplies! I figured — what better way to teach them that choosing sides will never work than to let you destroy their country, the very thing that  _ created _ these sides in the first place, right in front of their faces? The very  _ least _ I could do was make it a more even fight!”

Fundy doesn’t think he’s ever seen Dream be this shocked. It’s refreshing, for him to be the one with the surprises. For him to feel like he’s got some sort of upper hand, for  _ once _ in his fucking life.

“You didn’t have to do anything.”

“I wanted to.” 

“You helped the enemy.”

“How else would they learn?” Fundy leans back, tilts his head towards the sky. Cool drops of rain hit his face, catch in his eyelashes. He blinks them away. “I’m done choosing sides, Dream. I’ve got no loyalty to L’Manberg anymore. I was born there, and that’s it. Nothing I’ve ever done for that godforsaken country has ever mattered.” He knows this now. Regardless of who’s been president and who’s been the one giving orders, none of it mattered. And each president made that incredibly, increasingly clear. Fundy has never mattered — so why should L’Manberg? “Niki, Hbomb, Eret, maybe even Ranboo — they understand what I know now. I’ll choose them, instead of choosing a side. And maybe if Tommy and the rest of them learn — I’ll choose them, too.”

“Would you ever—” Dream hesitates, stops. “Never mind.”

“Would I…?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Fundy sees Dream fiddling gently with a ring sitting on the fourth finger of his left hand. Oh.

“You’re still wearing the ring,” he says.

“I haven’t taken it off.” Dream laughs. It’s dry, but not bitter. “Not since—” 

The wedding.

They still haven’t talked about it properly. Everything happened so quickly — Tommy’s exile, the wedding itself, then George getting dethroned and the butcher army and hell, even the festival that was just a few days ago — that Fundy hasn’t been able to find him. He knows he wouldn’t have actively looked for Dream, anyways. Not when he was the one to run away. 

Still, it leaves an angry ache in his chest whenever he thinks about it. About how close he was to having this— this one  _ good _ thing, for once, only to have it ripped mercilessly away. (Like most things in Fundy’s life have been, if he’s being honest. Maybe he should be taking better note of the pattern that’s so clearly arising.)

“What happened, that day?” he asks, and maybe it leaves him a little more gently than he’d like, but Fundy’s never been able to be that malicious when it comes to Dream. Never has. (He’ll play it up, play the part for Quackity and the others, but — he’s never really meant it, he thinks. At least, not before the wedding. After — well. It’s easier to create anger out of hurt than out of love.) “You’ve never — told me your side.”

Dream is silent for a bit, a thousand emotions flashing across his face in succession, quicker than Fundy can catch. “George was right. I didn’t pull away.”

“Oh.”

“But I didn’t lean into it, either.”

“.... _ Oh _ .”

Silence, except for the rainfall. Neither of them know what to say. 

Fundy thinks — that’s been his biggest fear, this whole time. That Dream chose someone else over him. That he was passed up, again. Forever the second choice. Forever abandoned by everyone he cares about, no matter how much love he had to give. But if Dream never leaned into it— if Dream never said that he wanted that kiss as much as George did— 

“I still have our wedding bands,” is what Fundy finally decides on. “They’re, uh — they’re in my ender chest. Have been, since. Y’know.” Dream seems surprised by this. Fundy doesn’t know why he expected a different response from the man sitting next to him. How else are you supposed to react? When a relationship you thought was broken and over has more loose threads that can still be woven back into its thick, rich tapestry than you accounted for? “I’ve never worn them, though.”

There’s a moment of silence, again, and then Dream speaks, quieter than Fundy’s ever heard him before. “I don’t have an attachment to many things, Fundy.” He lets out a soft breath, fiddling again with the engagement ring still perched on his finger. Fundy’s proud of it still — the craftsmanship, the fact that each diamond set into the shining metal is one he found himself. “I — I’ve said I don’t care about anything on this server but the discs. That’s a lie.” 

He doesn’t elaborate. Fundy wishes so desperately that he did.

“And — George?”

“A friend.”

“Nothing more?”

“Once, maybe.” He looks down at the ring on his finger. Straightens his fingers out to admire it, then clenches his fist tightly. “Not now. Not ever again.”

Fundy goes to laugh — from nerves, he thinks — but it escapes him instead as a sob. “I hated you, you know. For a long time after.”

“Do you still hate me now?”

“Well—” and he stops, and he thinks, and that’s not entirely true. He was hurting, sure, but — was it hate? Was it ever anything more than an ache in his chest, building and becoming more powerful than he could withstand? “— I don’t think I ever did.”

“How?”

Fundy blinks, taken aback. “Huh?”

Dream looks at him with an expression he can only describe as open. “You’d have every reason to hate me. How could you not? When everyone else finds it so easy?”

He doesn’t have an answer. 

Instead, he moves towards the ender chest in the middle of the ruins of the community house. Lifts the lid to a familiar swirl of violet particles, pushing past piles of diamonds and a few stray discs and some slime he’s been saving for a redstone project to the very back corner — two rings, wrought-iron. They burn, ice cold in his hand. (Realistically, Fundy knows they’re the same as every other time he’s pulled them out of his ender chest. Cool to the touch, one fitting smoothly around his own finger, one slightly too large. But they hold hundreds of unkept promises, thousands of words he’s too scared to say, and they burn so cold between his fingers.) 

“Here,” he says when he returns, holding a hand out for Dream, dropping the rings into his open palm. “I told you. I kept them. Even after — everything.”

“Why?”

Dream keeps asking questions that Fundy can’t answer. 

“It felt wrong to destroy them,” Fundy says instead. It’s not an answer. He doesn’t think he can give anything better. “But — I want you to have them, now.” 

Dream looks down at the rings in his hand. Closes his fist around them, then slips them into his pocket. “What do I do with them?”

“That’s not for me to decide, is it.”

“... Would we ever use them?”

“We can.” Fundy smiles gently. Nothing about today has been gentle but this, and it feels — strange, after the anger and the chaos and the mania of today, but it feels  _ right _ . “Whenever you’re ready.” 

A lot of things make far more sense now then they did before. Choose people, not sides. He never hated Dream. He never has. And Dream — from what he’s said — maybe cares about Fundy as much as Fundy cares about him. (Even just a fraction — just a sliver of all the love Fundy has for him that threatens to spill over now that he knows he hasn’t lost it all — that would be enough, he thinks.) He has the patience. To wait until Tommy and Tubbo and all the rest learn their lesson before he even considers allying with them,  _ choosing _ them again. To wait until Dream can approach him. “You can decide when to come back, if you choose to come back at all.”

He moves to stand up, to start walking away, but Dream grabs his wrist, stilling him before he can get too far. “Fundy?” he says, and his voice is soft and hesitant and  _ fuck _ , it feels so different and so familiar all at once, how Fundy is and always has been able to see this side of Dream that no one else gets to, that his softer moments have always been reserved for Fundy and always will be. 

“I’ll be waiting, Dream.”

Dream hesitates again, and Fundy can tell he’s wrestling with himself in his own mind, eyes tormented with the same embers that light them in battle. “... I love you.”

A grin spreads across Fundy’s face. “I love you, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> yes i speedran this yes i havent watched any other vods properly yet yes i am still extremely on the fundywastaken joint villains train !!! also like . fundy was clearly fucked up about how the wedding went but they never addressed it further than it being one of the reasons fundy was against dream leading up to the festival, so. i kinda went feral as they say! thank u for reading and consider leaving kudos or comments if you enjoyed !!


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